Mountain View Voice 03.18.2011 - Section 1

Section 1 of the March 18.2011 edition of the Mountain View Voice

Amusebouche
and
bubbly
WEEKEND | P.13
MARCH 18, 2011 VOLUME 19, NO. 11
650.964.6300
INSIDE: MOVIES | PAGE 16
MountainViewOnline.com
Hospital donations
jeopardized by
CEO’s ouster
BOARD’S ACTION RAISES QUESTIONS ABOUT
TRANSPARENCY AT EL CAMINO HOSPITAL
By Nick Veronin
closed session lasted two hours.
month after El Camino Hospital abruptly
announced that it would
terminate CEO Ken Graham’s
contract at the end of the fiscal
year, June 31, many at the hospital remain perplexed, and even
vexed by the news.
Judging from the sentiments
expressed by three people — a
member of the El Camino
Hospital Foundation’s board,
the head of the nurses’ union
at the hospital, and a Los Altos
resident — there are many reasons fueling the confusion and
anger that surround Graham’s
ouster. However, one complaint
stands out: the perceived lack of
transparency about the impetus
behind the decision.
“I felt that it was very unprofessionally done,” said Willem
P. Roelandts, a board member of
the El Camino Hospital Foundation, the fundraising arm of the
hospital.
Roelandts said that he and
other foundation board members were frustrated, angered and
“dumbfounded” by the decision,
which the foundation did not
learn about until after it had been
made public.
“The foundation board was
not told ahead of time or even
asked their opinion,” he said —
a move he felt was inconsiderate.
Roelandts was frustrated further
when members of the hospital
board came to a foundation
board meeting to explain their
decision and field questions.
“They couldn’t explain why,”
Roelandts said, noting that the
Donors drop out
The decision has hurt the
foundation’s fundraising ability,
Roelandts said, adding that he
and his colleagues have already
received calls from donors asking if the hospital is faltering.
He said he is sure the foundation will lose out on money as a
result of Graham’s termination.
“The way that Mr. Graham
was basically fired — it really
created doubts,” he said. “It is
very difficult to collect money
when there is an impression that
the hospital is in trouble.”
That perception is particularly frustrating for Roelandts,
who said that, in his opinion,
nothing could be further from
the truth. “El Camino Hospital
is probably the finest hospital
in the region. Mr. Graham has
really done a lot of things.”
A
MICHELLE LE
Passengers prepare to board the 2:33 p.m. Caltrain headed north at San Antonio station.
Regional deal may help Caltrain avert cuts
By Sue Dremann
D
rastic cuts to Caltrain rail
service are likely to be
averted, Steve Heminger,
the Metropolitan Transportation
Commission’s executive director, told the commission’s Planning and Allocations Committee
Wednesday, March 9.
The commission is working
with Caltrain’s financing partners
— Santa Clara County’s VTA,
San Mateo County’s SamTrans
and San Francisco’s Muni — to
cobble together a financing deal
that would help the 147-year-old
rail line avoid a $30 million operations deficit starting July 2.
Caltrain officials have warned
that they would slash the number
of trains, reduce the schedule to
weekday peak-commuter times
only, and close up to seven stations
along the San Jose to San Francisco route, including Mountain
View’s San Antonio station.
Service to points south of San
See CALTRAIN, page 9
Local relief efforts for Japan disaster victims
IMAGES, REPORTS OF DEVASTATION HIT HOME IN MOUNTAIN VIEW
By Nick Veronin
T
he images of destruction
and descriptions of devastation coming from across
the Pacific are both horrifying
and humbling.
“Those pictures from Japan really got to me,” said Norm Gorblat,
a Mountain View resident. “For a
second, I thought it could be us.”
INSIDE
The raw human emotion and
empathy stirred by the magnitude 9.0 temblor and subsequent
tsunami that pummeled northern
Japan on March 11, has prompted
many locals to ask how they
might help.
“The Mountain View Fire
Department has received requests
from community members interested in helping with relief efforts
to support the victims,” said
Jaime Garrett, spokeswoman for
the fire department.
The fire department is recommending that those who want
to help donate money to the Red
Cross. Garrett said people can
do this by texting “REDCROSS”
to 90999, which will give $10 to
See JAPAN RELIEF, page 6
GOINGS ON 19 | MARKETPLACE 20 | REAL ESTATE 22 | VIEWPOINT 12
Shocking statement
At the hospital board meeting
on March 9, Roelandts, along with
several others, publicly expressed
their distaste with the decision to
fire Graham.
And while most of the board,
along with the CEO himself, did
not publicly respond, one board
member did.
Dave Reeder, who voted against
firing Graham, said that he could
not disclose what was discussed
in closed sessions. Then he said
something that shocked one Los
Altos resident who had come to
the meeting in the hopes of getting his questions about Graham’s
See EL CAMINO CEO, page 7
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■ MOUNTAIN VIEW VOICE ■ MARCH 18, 2011
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A R O U N D
T O W N
Asked in Downtown Mountain View. Pictures and interviews by Peter Maxwell
In light of the quake and tsunami
in Japan, do you think your city
is prepared for a disaster?
“I don’t think we are prepared for
an earthquake. I plan on keeping
flashlights, camping supplies, food
and stuff like that handy just in
case.”
Brian Bruessow, Mountain View
“I’m definitely not prepared
myself. It makes me nervous. I’m
not sure if the city is prepared
for an emergency. They should
definitely double-check their
preparedness.”
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“Those pictures from Japan really
got to me, for a second I thought
it could be us. But no, I don’t
think we could be prepared for
something like that.”
Norm Gorblat, Mountain View
“No, I do not think we are ready
for something like Japan. The
most the city can do now is to
be aware. And you’ve got to get
all the stuff you need, like food
and water, and a place to meet if
people lose their homes.”
Sean Gee, San Carlos
“I doubt Mountain View is prepared. We need to organize escape
routes, people need to store food
and water. But in the case of a huge
disaster, there is no way to prepare
for the kind of damage that could
happen to the city. We should definitely look to make these preparations though. Japan was a warning.”
Tod Zimmerman, Mountain View
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MARCH 18, 2011 ■ MOUNTAIN VIEW VOICE ■
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■ MOUNTAIN VIEW VOICE ■ MARCH 18, 2011
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MOUNTAIN VIEW VOICE
■ CITY COUNCIL UPDATES
■ COMMUNITY
■ FEATURES
Senior health services
all under one roof
EL CAMINO SAYS NEW SENIOR HEALTH
CENTER WILL IMPROVE CARE, LOWER COSTS
Nick Veronin
E
MICHELLE LE
TAKING FLIGHT
Jacob Jelley, 3, soars above the ground, thanks to push from his mom Katy. A short break in the rainy
weather gave the youngster a chance to enjoy the swings at Eagle Park on March 15.
Japan quake: could it happen here?
By Nick Veronin
T
he massive 9.0 magnitude
earthquake and ensuing
tsunami that rocked Japan
last week has people all over the
Bay Area and California thinking
about the next big one. Though
experts from the United States Geological Survey said that residents of
inland, bay-bordering cities, such as
Mountain View aren’t at risk from
a tsunami, the prospect of a major
earthquake is very real.
“On the Peninsula, the fault
we worry about the most is the
San Andreas Fault,” said Dr. Tom
Holzer, an engineering geologist,
who works out of the Menlo Park
offices of the USGS. “That fault
is the one we think can cause the
largest magnitude earthquake in
the Bay Area.”
According to Holzer, geologists
think that the San Andreas, at its
most forceful, might produce a
magnitude 8.0 temblor, much lower
than the recent quake in Japan. In
sheer magnitude, Holzer said, an
earthquake triggered by the motion
of the San Andreas would likely
produce less shaking. However, it
would also be less violent because
of the type and size of the fault.
The unnamed Japanese fault,
Holzer said, is part of what is
known as a “subduction zone” —
an area where two tectonic plates
meet and one is forced beneath the
other.
The San Andreas, on the other
hand, is a “strike-slip” fault, where
two tectonic plates are moving parSee QUAKE, page 8
l Camino Hospital’s
board of directors recently
approved funding for a
new health center that will focus
on preventative care for local
seniors on Medicare.
The Senior Health Center, scheduled to open this fall, will bring
together a wide variety of specialists who will use the latest in medical technology to manage seniors’
chronic conditions, according to
Cal James, the El Camino official
spearheading the project.
But while James said the new
center will provide higher quality
care at a lower cost through integration of services and elimination
of redundancies, a local doctor is
concerned that the new center will
only serve to drive up costs and
further fragment senior care.
“It’s not going to be better care
for Medicare patients — no way,”
said Dr. Josephine Magnuson, who
runs a private practice in Mountain View. “This is the next thing
to make money for the hospital.”
At their March 9 meeting the,
the El Camino board unanimously approved the $2.3 million
project, giving hospital CEO Ken
Graham the go-ahead to spend up
to $1.4 million to revamp an existing building on Grant Road and
$900,000 to purchase equipment.
James, chief of strategy and business at El Camino, said the new
center’s approach to senior care
will be more comprehensive than
anything currently available in or
around Mountain View. It aims to
keep local elderly men and women
out of the emergency room, and
will ultimately save money, both
for the hospital and for insurance
providers, he said.
He said that the Senior Health
Center is sorely needed to care
for a growing and increasingly
underserved population of elderly
in Mountain View and the surrounding area, who are reliant
on Medicare and unable to get
adequate treatment.
“There are seniors that are growing old at an alarming rate,” James
said. “These folks are underserved
because a fair number of physicians here in Mountain View
do not accept Medicare patients
because they aren’t adequately
compensated for their care.”
Medicare reimbursement rates
do not cover the costs associated
with caring for seniors, James
said, especially those individuals
who suffer from multiple chronic
illnesses — such as diabetes, obesity
and heart disease. Most doctors,
James said, would like to treat these
patients, but it is simply infeasible
for them to do so.
Magnuson, who has practiced
internal medicine in Mountain
View since 1984, is skeptical.
While she acknowledged that
low Medicare reimbursement rates
are a real problem for doctors,
Magnuson said that private insurance reimbursement is often just as
inadequate.
See SENIOR, page 10
Zimbabwe Run: education and exercise, all for a good cause
By Peter Maxwell
T
he Sustainable Living Foundation
has a philosophy about charity —
it should be direct, engaging and
two-fold.
“I like direct, concrete philanthropy,”
said Ellen Clark, co-founder of the foundation. “I like philanthropy that shows
exactly where your money goes.”
To the Clarks, philanthropists ideally
give a little cash, but take away much
more from the experience. There are no
ties, no tuxedos or gowns, and certainly
no quick-mouthed, barely-intelligible
auctioneers. The Clarks prefer their philanthropy down-to-earth and sweaty.
And that’s why for the past 11 years the
Clark family has hosted the Zimbabwe
Run, a fair and set of races for kids that
support a Zimbabwean orphanage and
celebrate things that are important in the
African nation: health, food, music, art,
and charity.
The Zimbabwe Run will be held on
Sunday, March 27, at St. Joseph’s School,
1120 Miramonte Ave. in Mountain View.
The fair begins at noon, and the races
start at 1 p.m. The last race of the day is
named for Kate Wakerly, the founder of
the Voice.
The Zimbabwe Run holds true to the
Clark family philosophy, “Money isn’t
the only thing,” said Clark “and the
kids come back with an education about
Africa and they experience charity at
their own level.”
The Zimbabwe Run’s fair is free to
the public, and the 12 scheduled races
are open to all ages with a $5 registration fee. The races vary in length: 220
yards for preschoolers, one-half mile for
kindergartners and up, and a series of
mile-long races aimed at grade-school
through adult runners.
Colin Mack, 15, surges past Gray
Mavhera to win the race at last year’s
Zimbabwe run.
See ZIMBABWE RUN, page 8
MARCH 18, 2011 ■ MOUNTAIN VIEW VOICE ■
5
-PDBM/FXT
County rolls out new emergency text alerts
Santa Clara County introduced
a new, easy-to-use text message
number to help residents receive
emergency alerts in the event of a
disaster.
The initiative was prompted by
last weekâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 9.0-magnitude earthquake off the northeast coast of
Japan that caused a tsunami and
killed thousands of people there
before traveling across the Pacific
Ocean and briefly elevating surf
levels along parts of the California
coast.
In 2009, the county launched
AlertSCC, a regional automated
emergency notification tool that
provides instant safety informa-
tion to residents in the event of
an emergency or disaster via
text message, e-mail, or home or
business phone using 411 and 911
databases.
But because so many people
are becoming more reliant on
their cell phones, the county
today announced a text number,
32075, to reach more members
of the community. The feature
also benefits residents who have a
language barrier.
According to David Figueroa
Ortega, Mexicoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s consul general
in San Jose, with the 32075 text
number, it is not necessary to provide a name or house number but
only the word â&#x20AC;&#x153;alertscc,â&#x20AC;? a street
name and a ZIP code.
Residents will receive messages
notifying them about the location
of shelters, for example, where
to get medical assistance and
food, and areas to avoid because
of street closures and downed
bridges.
To sign up for the feature, either
text 32075 or visit www.alertscc.
com.
The Santa Clara County Board
of Supervisors and local officials
announced the text message feature at a news conference in San
Jose on Monday, March 14.
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;Bay City News Service
N OBITUARY
Joe D. Archibeque,
Mountain View educator
Joe D. Archibeque, an educator
and counselor at Graham Middle
School in Mountain View, died
March 3. He was 94.
Born in Durango, Colorado in
1916, Archibeque was a World
War II veteran who served in the
U.S. Navy. He graduated from
San Diego State University with
a masterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s degree in social sci-
ences and earned his counseling
credentials.
He was a resident of Belmont
since 1973. During his 16-year
tenure at Graham Middle School,
he filled the role of teacher, counselor, baseball and volleyball
coach, and school board member. He taught public speaking,
drama, history and Spanish.
During the summers, he worked
in public relations at Idyllwild
School of Music and the Arts. In
his free time, he loved to read,
paint and write, his family said.
Archibeque is survived by
Modrite Archibeque, his wife
of 38 years; and two daughters,
Melissa and Nicole.
A memorial service was held
March 12 at Immaculate Heart
of Mary Church in Belmont.
Donations may be made to
schoolforce.org or mvef.org.
LARRYâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S
JAPAN RELIEF
Continued from page 1
the humanitarian organization
and be charged to their cellular
phone account.
Residents may also give to
the Mountain View Buddhist
Temple, which is organizing a
fundraising drive of its own.
Glenn Kitasoe, president of
the temple, said that there are
many Japanese people living in
Mountain View and throughout
the Peninsula, and that for some
of the templeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s congregants, the
disaster hit very close to home â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
literally.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Most of us have family ties â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
either relatives or some acquaintances in Japan,â&#x20AC;? said Kitasoe,
a Buddhist of Japanese decent.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Luckily, most everyone in the
temple has family that was either
not affected or they are OK.â&#x20AC;?
Because of those ties, and simply because, as a religious organization the temple frequently does
humanitarian work, Kitasoe said
the Mountain View Buddhist
Temple will be accepting donations that will be sent to help the
Japanese recovery effort.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Whether they are Buddhists,
or any religion,â&#x20AC;? he said of those
impacted by the Japanese disaster, â&#x20AC;&#x153;there are people in need
and we would like to help.â&#x20AC;?
The temple is asking for donations during its Sunday services
and will accept donations from
anyone in the community.
Kitasoe said checks should be
made out to the Mountain View
Buddhist Temple. Information is
available on the templeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s website,
www.mvbuddhisttemple.org.
When the temple stops collec-
tions on April 20, they will pool
the money and send it to the
Buddhist Churches of America,
headquartered in San Francisco; the Buddhist Churches
of America will in take all the
money from its member temples
throughout the country and
send the funds to help the Japanese people.
Although the northeastern
coast of Japan suffered major
destruction, much of the southern part of the country â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
including Mountain Viewâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sister city, Iwata, â&#x20AC;&#x201D; was not hit
nearly as hard.
In fact, a group of students
from Iwata, scheduled to arrive
in Mountain View on March 17
as part of an exchange program
with the Mountain View-Los
Altos Union High School District, have not cancelled their trip
as a result of the quake.
Iwata, which is located in the
Shizuoka Prefecture of Japan, sits
roughly 350 to 400 miles from
the quakeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s epicenter, about 100
miles south of Tokyo.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;There wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t nearly the
amount devastation in Iwata
that northern Japan felt,â&#x20AC;? said
William Blair, an English teacher from Mountain View High
School and head coordinator for
the Iwata visit.
However, another local Japanese exchange program, between
middle schools in Palo Alto and
Tsuchiura â&#x20AC;&#x201D; a Palo Alto sister city
located about 200 miles north of
Iwata in the Ibaraki Prefecture of
Japan â&#x20AC;&#x201D; cancelled their trip after
a 6.0 magnitude temblor rattled
their city on March 11. They were
scheduled to arrive in Palo Alto
on March 12.
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â&#x2013; MOUNTAIN VIEW VOICE â&#x2013; MARCH 18, 2011
The City of Mountain View will be ďŹ&#x201A;ushing the
water system south of Cuesta Drive in April,
2011. Flushing helps to maintain water quality
by removing accumulated sand and sediment
from water lines. Signs and barricades will be
posted in neighborhoods the day before ďŹ&#x201A;ushing
begins. Flushing south of Cuesta Drive is
anticipated to be complete by May 15, 2011.
If you would like more information about the
Cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s water system ďŹ&#x201A;ushing program or have
questions or concerns while City personnel are
in your neighborhood, please contact the Public
Services Division at (650) 903-6329 or visit the
Cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s website at www.mountainview.gov.
-PDBM/FXT
EL CAMINO CEO
Continued from page 1
termination answered.
“I’m not sure I understand why
we did what we did,” Reeder said.
“Most of us will probably never
know why that decision was made.
But the majority of the board
decided they wanted a different
CEO.”
“That didn’t make any sense,”
Gary Krikorian said, referring to
Reeder’s statement.
Krikorian, a retired child psychologist living in Los Altos, said
he came to the meeting after reading about Graham’s ouster in the
local news media.
“It seemed unusual to me,” he
said, referring to the 3-2 decision
to dismiss Graham. “That tells me
there were some issues.”
He said that he feels a certain
ownership of the hospital, not only
because he pays taxes to support
its operations but also because it
is likely where he or his wife will
go if they fall ill. Krikorian said
he was upset to see how unwilling
the board had been to disclose the
reasoning behind its decision.
“The hospital belongs to us,”
he said, paraphrasing a quote he
had read from long-time hospital
booster Norma Melchor. “The
truth should come out.”
Tight-lipped board
The tightly worded official
statement announcing Graham’s
termination — when it did speak
of Graham’s tenure — spoke
about it favorably. Wesley Alles,
chairman of the board, focused
on Graham’s accomplishments
in comments included in the
statement. He noted that the CEO
headed the organization during
its re-designation as a nurse Magnet Hospital and was there for the
establishment of the Center for
Advanced Radiosurgery.
During his time at El Camino,
Graham oversaw the construction of the new, seismically sound,
state-of-the-art hospital building,
as well as the acquisition and
opening of the Los Gatos campus, facts not mentioned in the
release.
That’s not to say that Graham
didn’t also hit some rough patches
during his time at El Camino.
Graham presided over one of
the toughest financial periods El
Camino has faced in more than a
decade. In July 2010 the hospital
began its current fiscal year in the
red and in September announced
that about 140 employees, including service workers, nurses, and
administrators, would likely lose
their jobs.
However, while some administrative positions ultimately were
cut, thanks to negotiations, buyouts and a massive shuffling of
positions, no nurses or service
workers were forced to leave. And
although the fiscal year started
bleakly, the hospital appears to be
on track to turn a profit by the end
of June.
It is possible that Graham’s
handling of the crises may have
led to his ouster, according to
Ron Shinkman, the publisher
and editor-in-chief of Payers and
Providers —a weekly publication
covering healthcare business and
policy news in California.
Shinkman said that it can
be quite a juggling act to earn
the favor of physicians, nurses
unions, service workers unions,
patients, the community and
board members all at the same
time. “If you aren’t pleasing these
constituencies, they may try to
force you out.”
Yet, despite calls for an explanation, the board has remained
mum. In response to a request to
speak to members of the foundation board about Graham’s
departure, hospital spokeswoman
Chris Ernst wrote in an e-mail,
“the employment agreement was
terminated without cause. ...
As with any personnel matter
and as part of the mutual nondisparagement clause within the
employment agreement, further
discussion on this matter would
be in conflict of the agreement.”
Financial turn-around
Pat Briggs, president of the El
Camino nurses union, said that
in some ways she was surprised
by the decision.
“The surprise is that the hospital has gone through quite a
financial turnaround in the last
few months,” Briggs said. “Since
the June financials, there has
been a significant turnaround in
financial stability.”
The union leader said that she
has not been surprised by the
board’s lack of communication
with the public regarding its
decision.
“The board has a huge lack of
transparency,” Briggs said, criticizing the board for making the
majority of its decisions in closed
session and holding its meetings
in a way that is confusing for the
public and the press.
The El Camino Hospital board
made the decision to discontinue Graham’s contract during
a closed session portion of its
Feb. 9 meeting. It announced the
decision at the end of the closed
session, at about 10:20 p.m.
Alles, Patricia Einarson, MD,
and Uwe Kladde voted in favor
of the decision; Reeder and John
Zoglin were opposed.
Briggs said holding closed sessions that go late into the night,
means that when the board
finally reconvenes into open session, most, if not all, of the public
has gone home and does not hear
about any significant decisions
made in private.
Roelandts would not speculate
about what specifically prompted
the board to dismiss Graham, but
he did say that, broadly speaking,
it appeared that the reasons were
“political.”
Whatever the case, Roelandts
said he wishes the board would
have given the foundation at least
some warning.
“We are the people who bring in
the money; at least they should
treat us with a little bit more
respect,” he said.
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7
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added, not the shaking itself.
QUAKE
Continued from page 5
allel to each other.
In the case of both types of fault,
the friction created by a major
movement is what causes a quake.
But the plates that recently moved
off the eastern shore of Japan had
about three times the surface area
grinding against each other than
the San Andreas would.
Nearby faults
Holzer said geologists believe
the Hayward Fault, which runs
up through the East Bay, is due for
a significant event, which could
register as high as 6.7 on the Richter scale. While damage from such
a temblor on the Hayward Fault
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; which is also a strike-slip fault
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; would be â&#x20AC;&#x153;catastrophicâ&#x20AC;? in the
East Bay, damage to the Peninsula
would likely be â&#x20AC;&#x153;moderate,â&#x20AC;? Holzer
said.
Two small faults, which could
be described as wrinkles created
by the San Andreas, run through
parts of Mountain View. However,
the Monte Vista fault isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t likely to
shake very hard, Holzer said, and it
doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t appear to shake very often.
The most significant damage from
the Monte Vista fault would likely
come from the ground beneath
roads and buildings being offset, he
â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t lose sleepâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;
While it is certain that a quake
will eventually hit the Bay Area,
another USGS scientist said, residents in inland, bay-bordering
cities like Mountain View need not
worry about a tsunami.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;I wouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want your readers
to lose a lot of sleep over that,â&#x20AC;? said
Tom Brocher, director of the earthquake science center for the USGS.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;The seismic hazards are what they
need to worry about, rather than
the tsunami.â&#x20AC;?
Brocher, who is based in Menlo
Park, said that the narrow opening
of the bay, along with its shallow
depth, means that it would be
highly unlikely for tsunami waters
to do much damage to inland areas
in the Bay Area, even in cities like
Mountain View that abut the bay.
Coastal cities are the most at risk
from a tsunami, Brocher said. He
also said that the Bay Area faults,
such as the Hayward and San
Andreas, arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t likely to cause a
tsunami.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;In this part of California, the
tsunami risk is mainly related to
distant earthquakes,â&#x20AC;? he said.
Large tsunamis are created by
subduction zone faults, he said.
When those faults experience a
major shift, the earth can suddenly
drop or rise rapidly. If that happens
SPRING
and Sculpt
Your 2011
with an underwater fault, that water
will be shoved with great force and
may result in a tsunami.
To illustrate his point, Brocher
said that the massive 1906 earthquake, that razed much of San
Francisco, only generated a swell of
about 4 inches.
However, he said, that doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t
mean Mountain View residents
shouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t worry about the damage
caused by a strong temblor.
Building codes
Modern California building
codes mean that most Bay Area
homes built after the 1970s are
fairly safe, Holzer said â&#x20AC;&#x201D; even
when coming up against a quake
like the one in Japan.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Believe it or not, you could
design to withstand that,â&#x20AC;? he said,
comparing buildings that comply
with earthquake code to rubber
bands. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Think of the tremendous
stretching you can get with a rubber band. What youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve got to do is
design a building with those kinds
of properties, so itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s able to recover
when the ground shaking causes it
to sway back and forth.â&#x20AC;?
Such properties have been built
into the new El Camino Hospital
building, according to Ken King,
chief administrative services officer for the hospital.
He said the hospital is designed
to remain functional even after a
into
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